Ralph Wrecks The System
by The Pancake Bunny
Summary: Its been a year since Ralph and Vanellope broke the internet, and they've kept up their long distance friendship all the while! Its just a shame that times can change, and dark forces from the past and present are rising up, ready for battle. As the very system itself begins to tear asunder, Can Ralph and Vanellope truly win this battle divided?
1. Slaughter Race

**Hiya everyone! Aw yeah its time for my first story on here! Milkshake and I have only dabbled in this kind of stuff, but we have a story to tell so we won't give up that easy! That being said, oh boy do we want constructive criticism so judge away! I hope you guys will like this as much as I like my pancakes, but thats probably impossible! Anyways, thats enough rambling, there are adventures to seek and battles to be won! See ya guys around.**

 _Its been a year since Ralph and Vanellope broke the internet, and they've kept up their long distance friendship all the while! Its just a shame that times can change, and dark forces from the past and present are rising up, ready for battle. As the very system itself begins to tear asunder, Can Ralph and Vanellope truly win this battle divided?_

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Chapter 1: Slaughter Race

The scene was pretty grim to say the least. Flaming car wreckage was flung through the dark smoggy air of the intersection. The noises of crackling fire and creaking metal rang out, echoing in the darkness of the night. Vanellope began to come to, she was lying sprawled out on the cold, rough pavement.

Her ears were ringing a high-pitched ring that made her feel out of it, disconnected from the place she now calls home, a place called Slaughter Race. Too tired to move, she tries to think back on just where was, and how she ended up lying on the ground well into the night. She recalled that she was doing some late night racing before her and Shank- "Shank!" Vanellope tried to call out to her friend, but her voice only came out as a throaty stammer before she let out a few bad sounding coughs.

She snapped to her senses and recalled everything that happened that day, and she had to make sure that Shank was doing okay. With blurry vision, she looked around the scene in hopes of finding something, anything that could reassure her that everything was going to be okay. Vanellope squinted her big brown eyes as she peered through the fog of smoke and mace, and a few feet of to her left, she noticed Shank, but she was definitely worse for ware.

Shank lay face down the concrete, her arms lying on the ground by her head. Her legs and lower body were trapped underneath some really heavy looking car wreckage. Vanellope tried to shuffle closer to get a better look from her position on her back, but met some resistance. "Sweet mother of monkey milk, today is definitely not going as I planned" Vanellope's left arm was trapped between a wall and a monstrously oversized tire, much larger than any vehicle she's come across in Slaughter Race.

Trying to place where she saw that familiar tire, she began to snap more and more into reality, she looked about but wasn't able to see anyone else nearby from her position, but she knew that the rest of Shank's crew was also trapped in this aftermath. Trying to get up for a better look at the scene, she tried to use her right arm to steady herself and get up, but when she put a little weight on it, waves of pain shot up her arms and shoulder, and she let out a yelp in pain.

That pain was what finally made the ringing and blurriness dissipate as she remembered the urgency that she was truly in. Everyone in Shank's gang secretly planned a celebratory racing competition and party for Vanellope's first year anniversary of deciding to follow her heart and finding her place in Slaughter Race. Its just a shame that out of nowhere, horrible traps coated the area in explosions and fire, usually a commonplace in Slaughter Race but this time was definitely out of the ordinary.

It was a coordinated attack, and even though her and Shank were able to escape every last trap, they didn't expect a giant monster truck to get the literal jump on them as it flew out of a second story window at max speed, directly into the two. There wasn't even enough time to glitch out of the way before the carnage had struck. One thing Vanellope was able to see though, was that the driver of the vehicle was a black hooded cloak, obscuring everything except for long flowing hair that glinted in the headlights, and a large peppy grin.

At the noise of footsteps approaching her, Vanellope began to panic and using the wall as support, she climbed to her feet, her right arm falling to her side and beginning to numb, while she desperately tried to free her left hand. With both her arms out of commission, she could only watch as a dark shadow appeared in the smog and the hooded figure stepped into view, illuminated by the fiery embers of the cold night.

At first they stood there in silence, face to face, listening to the crackling of fire and the whistling of the cold breeze. The silence was broken by a vibrating noise coming from Vanellope's hoodie pocket, it was her Buzztube communicator. Unable to answer the call, which could only have been from Ralph, she sighed an anxious and angry sigh. "Alright, tell me who you are right now" Demanded Vanellope in as commanding and calm of a voice as she could muster, but sounded a little shaky.

The hooded figure laughed out a feminine small giggle before taking a deep breath and instead of answering, she began slowly approaching the wall that Vanellope was leaning on. With a triumphant and smug grin she stares into the smartie with her apricot colour eyes that seem to glow in the darkness of her shadowy cloak.

Vanellope readies herself for one car wreck of a battle, quite literally, and stares right back as she can feel her light blue code begin to rev up to engage the mysterious foe. What a fun way to celebrate her anniversary!

The enemy was underestimating her. She won't be the first, she won't be the last, but she will be wrong.

—

 **Well you know what they say, the first step is always the hardest and boom just jumping right on in! So, how did I do? Did i bounce up high or did I pop like I ate too many pancakes again? Is anyone interested in hearing more of this story because if so, oh man are we in for a journey! This story is going to dip into the past of Litwak's arcade, and some familiar and unfamiliar faces are about to enter the scene! See ya guys around! Pancake out!**


	2. Sugar Blitz

**Hiya everyone! Looks like a whole bunch of people showed support to my story, thank you guys! Anyways, I think its about time for this story to continue onwards and to explore just what this adventure has waiting in store for everybunny! Well, I better hop to it, See ya guys soon! Pancake Out!**

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Chapter 2: Sugar Blitz

The figure slowly approached Vanellope, a dark cloak swaying in the calm evening breeze. The one beneath the shroud walked forward in long, confident strides, and stopped around ten feet of Vanellope and let out a small chuckle. Vanellope stared warily at the shadow before her, whoever was under that cloak was around a head taller than her small smartie stature of 3'11, a height shared by many of the racers from her home, an arcade game known as Sugar Rush.

The wind blew around the hood of the cloak, allowing Vanellope to get a better look. They were still grinning that smug grin, and their graphics suggested that they were definitely from the internet, a vast world full of unknown faces. Why was this figure here, and what is their goal? She figured that if she wanted any answers, she was going to have to beat them out of whatever horrible, mean, anniversary ruining creature lay under the disguise.

You could cut the tension with a knife as the two stared each other down. "Those where my friends you just blew up! Now get ready to pay!" Not surprisingly, Vanellope's battle cry didn't even faze the shadow. Their death stares of tension would soon lead to action, as a lone raindrop fell down from the sky right between the two. They both saw it in motion, and knew that when that drop hit the ground, they would be ready.

The raindrop hit the ground with a small plink noise, that could be heard over the quiet crackling of flames, its relative calmness contrasting the events it would lead to as the figure began to bend its knees down into a stance, and it retraced it's right hand into the darkness of the black cloak. Vanellope's body began to shape into light blue pixels, ready for her trademark ability that she's had ever since she could remember. She was able to use her cyan coloured code to preform a teleport, an ability that seemingly manifested in a strange incident about seven years ago, where some evil madman named Turbo got into Sugar Rush's code room, and tried to take over the game, and almost succeeded in taking over her old arcade!

She didn't have time to reminisce on old times now, as the creature sprang to life, and with a single powerful leap, it was quickly closing the gap between the two, it's arm rearing back for an attack. Though Vanellope was injured, she was still able to glitch out of danger, and warped to the top of the giant tire that was pinning her left arm. She instantly warped safely to the top of the tire, and looked back to where she was standing just moments ago to see what the figure was all about in this duel.

As Vanellope suspected, the shadow was going for an attack with its right hand, which slammed directly into the strong brick wall that she was leaning on not moments ago. It's cloaked right hand was encased in some kind of dense black orb, which was slammed directly into the wall and sending dark black cracks along its surface. Vanellope realized that one hit from that thing would definitely do a lot of damage, but she's been coded for this game for a year, and she was able to regenerate her code in here.

The boom of the impact could be heard echoing through the smog, and the figure didn't recoil from the punch on the brick wall. Vanellope just stood and stared at the mysterious threat in fear, what would someone like this want with her game, her home. As her adrenaline flowed, she could feel her right arm beginning to heal, though her pinned left arm was definitely in worse shape. It seemed like her whole arm was crushed by that tire, but luckily for her, it would heal in her game in just a few minutes. On the other had, and unluckily for her, both her arms still felt numb and the figure stood up and began slowly tilting it's head up to the tire where Vanellope was standing, revealing it's unflinching grin.

Vanellope knew the physics of this game well after all her time here, an advantage she had over her assailant. She took a few steps forward on that huge tire, and began running back as the giant tire began quickly accelerating as it violently rolled towards the figure, who's arm was still embedded in that orb, which was stuck in the brick wall. The figure looked on in shock, but reacted quickly, and jumped both of it's feet onto the wall and managed to leap away, freeing it's orb covered hand. While the shadow lept back, it was a bit shaken from the surprise attack, and Vanellope took advantage of this opening.

her body was healing, and she could use one of the tricks she's picked up during her days of racing. Vanellope stopped, and grabbed onto the huge tire, preforming a large glitch that further distracted her foe as it glowed her bright blue code. Vanellope and the tire warped directly on top of the figure in such a way that it would fall over it's outstretched right arm, subduing and pinning her foe, and stopping the attacks from that dangerous dark orb. Vanellope definitely wanted vengeance, but she could never game end anyone, it just wasn't in her code.

The cloaked figure saw the cyan code and the massive tire about to end their attack as they flew backwards through the air. The figure let out a loud scream "AAAAAAA" the feminine yell echoed of the cloaked figure in the night air, and just before the tire made contact, the shadow twisted her body around in the air, and threw an orb coated swing at the tire, which managed to connect and sent the tire spinning through the air into the rubble as black cracks formed along it's surface.

The figure watched it spin into the wreckage, and began to maneuver it's body to land on the ground. Just then, from right above it's head, Vanellope let out her own battle cry "AAAAAAAAAAAAAA" she yelled as she preformed a powerful kick from the air which connected directly with the hooded figure's face. It couldn't gain it's balance and was moving even faster that before due to the attack, and painfully bounced, rolled and skid along the road before bashing into some rubble.

Vanellope landed on her feet and looked on at the figure. It lay motionless before slowly leaning up, and getting to it's feet. "Not so confident now, are you" Vanellope remarked at the figure after her successful attack. The hooded one said nothing in response, it just slowly began walking towards Vanellope, the smug peppy grin shining brightly on it's face. Vanellope got into a battle stance as the figure shuffled forward, it's orb covered hand laying at it's side.

This battle was far from over, but Vanellope was going to do everything she could to get revenge for her family, and get the answered that hid beneath the dark flowing cloak

 **Yeey its chapter 2, this isn't a one and done thing at all, no way! The power of pancakes is never to be underestimated, aw yeah! Anyways I'm getting to sleep because it's late now, hope you have a great day everyone, mine are always awesome, started the right way with a big ol bowl of pancakes! Actually, thats all I ever eat, probably not that healthy but its kinda my thing. Anyways, don't be afraid to leave a review, I wanna hear what y'all think! Pancake Out!**

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	3. Darkened Smile

**Time to make this story official with chapter 3, aw yeah! Hiya again everyone! Oh, you're in the midst of a battle I see! Well no need to worry, things are only getting started! I won't take from the action for any longer, Pancake Out!**

Chapter 3: Darkened Smile

As Vanellope watched the figure rise from the rubble, she knew for certain that her initial observation was correct. In the game Slaughter Race, the land Vanellope called home and was celebrating her anniversary in before being so rudely interrupted, she was part of her friend Shank's crew.

They were all in-game characters who were used to being battled and challenged to races by player controlled characters in the MMO setting. You could always tell a player apart from any usual resident of the internet, they always have a notable appearance specified to a limited character customization option that allows players to mix and match out their own unique avatar. The cloaked figure was definitely not one of them, they came here from somewhere else on the internet, and they did it for a reason.

As the shadow began to walk closer to Vanellope, it's large overly peppy and smug grin hid all semblance of what it was thinking or feeling. Vanellope didn't flinch at the unnerving sight, this was her game and she could regenerate her damage, her code belongs to the world of the game. Actually, that was the thing that was worrying her at the moment. With her right arm still numb from the pain and her left arm completely broken and shattered, they both should have healed by now. Something was stalling the rate of her code regeneration, and one look at the figure's large grin said it all.

She activated the light blue code on her hands and it swirled around in the air in glossy patches, at the surface her code seemed to be its usual shiny colour. As it flowed and danced around her arm, she spotted something and looked a little closer. Within the bright cyan aura, small volatile black dots ebbed and flowed chaotically around her code. "Sweet mother of monkey milk! What are you doing to my code!? Stop this right now or else! You're not welcome here, please just leave us alone!" All she got in return was that smile, the dark shadow stood before her, the imposing figure was unfazed and the cloak undamaged. The pitch black orb still ominously glistening in it's hand, and it tilted it's head as if to taunt her efforts to change an innevitable.

In that moment, Vanellope was afraid. Afraid for her safety, and the safety of her friends. Afraid that her very code could be manipulated, her very being. Afraid that she wouldn't be able to heal, and her code could be stuck this way forever. Afraid that she could game end and never regenerate. Afraid that she could lose everything in an instant. Afraid that she could lose everyone. Afraid that she wasn't safe here anymore. Afraid that this was the end. She was no longer staring into the grinning face of a figure cloaked in shadow. She was staring into her own future, her own morality, her own life and her own death. In that moment she stood completely alone, the threat of oblivion loomed over her, a feeling she never knew, a darkness she's never known. This wasn't in her code, and fear was all she could feel as the world around her seemed to darken.

As the rain began to pick up, Vanellope fell to her knees, unable to face this reality as the dark thoughts began to overwhelm her. In an instant, the shadow was directly in front of Vanellope, staring down at her, hidden within the cloak. The shadow reached down with it's left arm any grabbed her by the front of her seafoam coloured hoodie. As she was lifted up into the air by the figure, she thought about her grim situation. The one in the cloak was faster and stronger than her, and it's presence is slowly nullifying her code itself. Even an all out attack couldn't make it flinch. She's faced the impossible before, but nothing like this.

What about her friends, her family? If this creature before her stopped all their regeneration, they wouldn't be in good shape. If she tried to fight alone, she would get even more worn out, and her arms were still out of commission. If she tried to run to help everyone, then they could be in even more danger with their injuries. If she tried to run and call for help, she would leave her family alone with the shadow, provided it would even let her leave. She enjoyed that battles and skirmishes in Slaughter Race with Shank and the crew, but this was completely different. If she waited too long, everyone could succumb to their injuries, and it would really be game over for good.

As the figure held Vanellope in an outstretched left arm, the smartie dangled up there as now faded eyes looked and empty stare towards nothing in particular. The shadow raised it's right hand back, readying the orb for one final strike. Tears began to stream down her face, and fall to the ground, just barely visible through the rain. For only a moment, the grin on the cloaked figure's face flinched, and it's arm ready to finish the job with that orb lowered just a little. It was only for a split second, but it was visible. In an instant, the figure returned to its original composure, or was it all just a facade? It didn't matter now, and the figure just stood there for a moment, the cloak concealing all it's secrets.

For the first time since Vanellope saw it, the creature finally decided to speak, and let out a dark, feminine voice that seemed to be trying to hide it's emotions. It spoke only three quiet words. "Happy anniversary, Schweetz". After it was done, the figure continued to just stand there for a few moments, unmoving and unflinching. The girl behind the cloak let out a deep breath and spoke one more time. "You may all rest in peace now." This line was barely audible through the light rainfall, and the sounds of the water falling onto the flaming wreckage, the fire roaring in perseverance. The cloaked girl tensed the arm ready with the orb one final time, and brought it back up into position.

For Vanellope, all her hope was gone, she wasn't even able to call for help. In her final moments she slumped down as she accepted the inevitable. Her code felt more and more exhausted, being close to that orb must be corrupting her code. Everything started to numb, this was game over. She could only look on with teary eyes as she was forced to confront the end. In that moment everything seemed so calm and silent around her.

The only thing that seemed out of place was the strange whirring noise that was emanating from somewhere behind the figure, getting ever louder.


End file.
